The Christian Church in the 21st century has a problem. It’s a big problem—a social problem and a public problem—and yet almost no one is talking about it. It isn’t new; in fact, it’s been around for millennia. But it’s a problem that has been given peculiar opportunity to fester in today’s church.¹

What is the problem?
The public exposure of anything and everything someone else does that another person deems wrong.

Just yesterday, yet another scandal broke in the Christian world over something a Christian leader had done. What followed was predictable. The internet lit up with Christians reporting on and dissecting the sinfulness of this individual’s behavior: the internet warriors took their positions, debating the finer points of the man’s sin; the internet investigators trawled through his past, hunting for more dirt; the internet court held a trial and declared him a sinner; the internet blog experts used him as clickbait to grow their audience; and the internet pastors used him as a cautionary tale to scold those around them.

Why is this such a serious issue?
To be blunt: in trying to expose the sin of another, the exposer reveals his own.
To publicize someone else’s sin is to do something the Scriptures clearly say ought not to be done.

Now, don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying there’s never a legitimate place for the public acknowledgement of sin—whether by the elders of a church or the sinner himself. Scripture calls churches to discipline sin and, at times, to address it publicly. When a man sins publicly, he ought to confess publicly and be confronted. But that responsibility lies with the local eldership—not with every self-appointed internet warrior.

The Bible tells us how we ought to respond to the sin of others:

“Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.” (Proverbs 17:9)
“Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.” (Proverbs 10:12)
“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8)

Isn’t it striking that the Bible calls us to cover the offenses of others—yet we seem obsessed with publicising them?

This brings to mind the story of Noah’s three sons:

“Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.” (Genesis 9)

One son exposed and shamed his father.
Two sons chose instead to cover their father’s disgrace.
The one who exposed was cursed.
The two who covered were honored.

Let us be sons who cover the offense of those we claim to love—not vultures who feed on the downfall of God’s people.

1. I feel weird even talking about it, because I know the problem sits at my own door. In writing this I run the risk of falling into the sin of the very issue I’m addressing. Yet, I think its worth addressing nonetheless, even to guard my own heart. ↩︎